Hey guys I'm posting this here because if we don't get this under control, it may affect Roxy's health when my hubby sets her on the curb.

We're having one hell of a time with Roxy and housebreaking. I don't remember King being this difficult so maybe it's a girl thing? I dont' know but its making me nuts and making my hubby REALLY nuts.

The wet spots I think we've gotten under control. She had a bladder infection and has been on meds for about a week and that really has pretty much eliminated the peeing in the house. The big problem we're having though is her pooping in the house. I've literally walked her for an hour and she'll pee pee pee, but no poop. Come in the house and BAM upstairs in a dark corner and there's poop. The last few days I've had her hooked to me by leash in the evening so she can't run off. Last night, I was loading the dishwasher and she got away from me for seriously less than 2 minutes. AND SHE POOPED ON THE STAIRS.

Any tips on how I can get her to poop outside? I don't know what the issue is. Whenever she pees outside I give her lots of praise and little treats but if I can't get her to poop out there I can't praise her. AND, she knows it's bad because as I'm cleaning it up she's got her head tucked down and her little sorry face on.

I read a trick somewhere, actually I think it was here, where you stick a match (unlit!) into the rectum while the dog is outside and it induces defecation. Then, since they are outside you make a BIG frickin' deal of it, treats, praise, the whole nine yards. The other bonus to that is that they have pooped, so the chances of them doing it inside in the next few hours is low. So maybe do that two or three times a day until she starts to get the picture. And get some REALLY good treats for it.

Yup I used the matchstick trick with Teeny while trying to housebreak her in the winter (what a joy). She has only ever pooped in the house twice that I can remember (once was yesterday because she had bad diarrhea and I wasn't home, once as a puppy). So I'd say it worked pretty well!

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France

Ok, I'll try it. What kind of matchstick? Do you lube it before insertion (eww) or whats the deal. How far, etc. I don't want to take her to the vet with a matchstick stuck in her hiney. But if it doesn't work, the next time it might be lit. (I'm totally kidding about that last part).

You use a cardboard match stick, sticking the cardboard side in and letting it still hang out of her bum. The feeling stimulates her to poop. Sometimes the matchstick will get . . . uh . . . sucked in. Don't worry, it'll come out with the next bowel movement!!

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France

Seriously...she doesn't know it's "BAD"...she's just reading your body language and trying to suck up to you by groveling. That's what dogs do. They read us too well, and will act "guilty" when our body language reads M-A-D. Try yelling at an inanimate object sometime when she's around...most dogs will slink off or cower, even though she's not done anything. Then try cleaning up the accident and not be mad about it (difficult for us humans)...see if she offers the same behaviors.

My guys just had a major diarrhea explosion last week...big puddle of it. I came out, said..."Sorry I didn't hear the cry for help in the night, and cleaned it up. I had five dogs all surrounding me to see what I was doing...thinking I might want to play. No angry body language on my part, so they were all happy go lucky. However, if I yell at the cat for something (get off that damned table!)...the dogs all slink around and act "guilty"...even though they had nothing to do with my anger.

And truly, if she knew it was BAD...she wouldn't keep doing it, right? What you've created (accidentally) is a sneaky dog who knows that somehow she's gonna be punished for pottying in front of you...so she's sneaking off to poop. Very common stuff.

So...my advice, keep her crated until she poops. No tethering, if she can get away from you...that's not gonna work. Crate her until she poops outside. Lots of short trips outside to potty, no luck, back in crate. Repeat until poop happens. (it will...it always does). It's going to take patience and consistency on EVERYONE'S part. Don't feel bad that she's sitting in her crate too long...just remember that HER being in the crate is better than YOU being annoyed and having to clean up a mess!

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

Another trick that I've heard is when she poops in the house, pick it up and take it outside (have her with you) put it down where you want her to poop and then praise. Walk off and then go through the outside bunches. Go to that spot so she can smell it and when she goes...have a wahoo party.

funny, we had a dog boarding at work with K9 cognitive dysfunction (doggy alzheimers) and a neurological issue, she was fecal, and sometimes urinary incontinent. I don't think anything could have helped the pooping issues, but if she went out with another dog and saw them go, often she would go.

I also thought I'd mention that you shouldn't need to take her out for more then a few minutes, thats a trap, and the dog will learn that they don't need to hurry. My parents think it takes their dog a 20 minute walk to have a bowel movement I also have many clients that think this, and I think, eventually, it can affect the dog, too, and they'll have trouble going on "short notice". We'll have dogs in hospital, and they get short "in and out" potty breaks every 3-4 hrs; we'll get dogs that'll hold it and hold it and hold it - I wonder if they're so used to taking their time that the don't know how to go when they have just a quick chance.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

Excellent points, Malli. Also, for a dog who likes to be outside, staying out for a long time and then going in as soon as they poop can teach them to hold it as long as they can so they get to stay outside longer.

SisMorphine wrote:You use a cardboard match stick, sticking the cardboard side in and letting it still hang out of her bum. The feeling stimulates her to poop. Sometimes the matchstick will get . . . uh . . . sucked in. Don't worry, it'll come out with the next bowel movement!!

Finally - it took her a day and a half of constant crating but she finally pooped outside. Tried the match stick thing for a few days, didn't work, did the long walks short walks, tied her up outside for a while. NOTHING. So she just had to be constant crated. I felt horrible for crating her for so long (I know, I shouldn't but her little face behind bars tugged at my heartstrings). It took a day and a half, but FINALLY!! And I'm sure my neighbors thought I was nuts when she got her big poopy puppy party. So we're crating her all the time until she gets the hang of it. Fingers crossed.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07